Combined NATO/50mm hitch. Any good?

I'm looking at fitting one of these hitches so I can tow both a standard trailer and a Sankey on a NATO hitch without swapping hitches. Are they any good?

Probably worth saying that I'm unlikely to be towing the Sankey over any particularly challenging terrain, possibly farm tracks or similar. The 50mm is unlikely to to anything very heavy...perhaps an empty horsebox, and in terms of recovery work, although I may pull out the odd vehicle once in a while, it won't be full on/competition stuff.

Any feedback gratefully appreciated.

I looked at those and decided that I wouldn't trust it. I fitted the NATO hitch mainly for recovery use so it was going to be well loaded when being used. You say you want it so you don't have to swap hitches over. What towing set up do you have? I have both a standard ball at standard trailer height and a NATO hitch on the cross member and they do not get in each others way (see pic below). If you have an adjustable drop plate it may be better to get a separate slider, then all you have to do is pull the pins and swap the front plate which does not take long, but you get a proper hitch for each type. Also when I was looking at them they seemed to be for the american market and did not have any type aproval or verified rating/loading so not sure how you would fair insurance wise in this country.



As a side note, surely wherever you fit that is will not work for one of the trailers? If it is high enough to tow a sankey it will be too high for the horse box and if it is low enough to tow the horse box will be too low for the sankey.

+ 1 on dag019's comments,would also say that if you used one of those often in ring hitch [sankey] mode there would be a danger of the ball being damaged to a point where it would be unsafe.

Get a Dixon drop plate system and purchase 2 of the tow hitch plates. Thenjust change the drop plates to suit your needs. Easier & safer

With a proper NATO hitch like dags they can be made to swivel. Depending upon the type of trailer you are towing you can get a fixed or swivel head. You need at least one (car or trailer) to be swivelling for trailer articulation. If you buy the fixed hitch (like in the first picture) then you should only tow trailers that have swivelling heads. If your hitch can swivel then you can tow both styles without issue.

Kwakerman said:

With a proper NATO hitch like dags they can be made to swivel. Depending upon the type of trailer you are towing you can get a fixed or swivel head. You need at least one (car or trailer) to be swivelling for trailer articulation. If you buy the fixed hitch (like in the first picture) then you should only tow trailers that have swivelling heads. If your hitch can swivel then you can tow both styles without issue.

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Although you need to lock one or other eye if they both swivel so you don’t end up with the hitch upside down and the trailer weight pressing down on the bit that usually lifts up.

flat said:

Although you need to lock on it other eye if they both swivel so you don’t end up with the hitch upside down and the trailer weight pressing down on the bit that usually lifts up.

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Good point, forgot to add that

I have a NATO hitch bolted through the drop plate, which is intended for recovery / tow ropes and the 50mm ball which I use for a horse box.
You need to have the 50mm tow ball height just right for a twin axle box, or it really unsettles it at motorway speeds.
The drop plate on mine was intended for a series 2/3, but I added tie bars back to the chassis.
You can see that a combined hitch would be way too low for a Sankey trailer.

Thanks very much for the replies all. As I have a DB adjustable drop-plate set up, I'll do it properly as has been recommended and just buy another mount and get a proper NATO hitch and swap as/if needed, and never worry about it failing.

Thanks again!